


when we were young

by wikemheeler



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, Future, artist maya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 15:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6991738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wikemheeler/pseuds/wikemheeler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"we were sad of getting old, it made us restless"</p><p>song fic based off of "when we were young" by adele</p>
            </blockquote>





	when we were young

They had all gone their separate ways. Sure, Maya and Riley were still best friends, but their other friends from their high school had faded into the background. Lucas had broken up with Maya before he left for college in Texas, he didn’t want to deal with a long-distance relationship. Maya had been totally blindsided by this; they had fought so hard for so long to be together and then suddenly it was over. He was gone, and in return, so was she. She was a shut in for months. When she thought about it, she should have seen it coming, how could he ever want to stay with the broken girl from New York when he could be living his life back in Texas with all of the tall sun kissed girls he could get his hands on. But, luckily for her, the months she spent without the sun ended up being a God sent. She began making art. This was different than anything she had ever done, the colors were darker and the emotions were richer. Lucas leaving her was the last Jenga piece to be removed before her fragile tower tumbled down. She wasn’t a whole person anymore but that’s the irony of being an artist; hurt is good for the art, but bad for the heart.

Her pieces began to be chosen for art shows at her college campus and then off campus, and then cross country. She couldn’t stop painting or drawing or sculpting for months. Her father, her mother, her Lucas, all of them were being recreated and reshaped into something she could finally understand and, through her art, she started building herself up again. Her art was finally gaining popularity and, in turn, so did she. By the time sophomore year rolled around, she was being requested at openings for her art all across the country. She turned down almost every single one, wanting to stay home with her paint brushes and canvases, until the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas in Austin called. When she picked up that phone, something inside of her snapped and the months of anger and sadness and confusion came rushing onto the shores of herself and before she even realized it, she was agreeing and being shipped off on a plane with her and her art. Riley wanted to come for moral support, but she told her she would fine. She was lying. 

xxxxxxx

When he saw her name and face on the announcements board, something inside of him snapped. He had spent the last two years of his life trying to forget about her. Trying to forget the way her hair looked when she woke up, the way she smiled at him in the way that told him she loved him, the way she cried when he said goodbye, he’d tried to forget all of it. But here she was, on his campus, all flesh and bone and anger. He knew he shouldn’t go, he knew she didn’t want to see him. But there was something within him that told him he had to go, or he wouldn’t forgive himself. So he went, and she was as stunning as he remembered but with something different. She was somehow lighter than ever before, she was doing better than ever without him and he tried his best to be happy but all he felt was regret. From hiding behind the pillars of the show room, all he could think about is how badly he wanted to be beside her, supporting her, as the rest of the world recognized what he had always seen within her. Everyone in the room was melting at her feet, and she was loving every second of it. He almost couldn’t take it anymore when she saw him. If looks could kill, he would have died a thousand times.

xxxxxxx

She had thought a million times of what she would do if this moment ever happened. At the beginning of the end, they would run into each other’s arms and he would apologize and she would be safe again. In the middle of the end, he would beg for her forgiveness and she would look the other way. But now, at the finish line, all he did was stare and all she did was sketch his surprise into the confines of her mind, sheltering it from the rest of her mind and the way she felt about him. He had always been her favorite subject. He was so beautiful in his own right that it almost seemed like a crime to not put his smile on paper. Neither one of them had moved and at this point she was already half way done with her full body sketch in her head. Ultimately, she was interrupted by a journalist major begging for details of her inspiration, something she had never revealed before. But somehow, knowing that he was here and he was listening, made her want to finally say everything she had hoped her art would sing to him.

“Alright how much time you got blondie?”

The student looked stunned, she had expected to be brushed off like all of the people who had come before her. She dug through her bag and pulled out an old school tape recorder and a notebook and pen, more excited than she would have ever admitted. 

Before the journalist even asked any questions, Maya began speaking, “My inspiration for my work is myself.” The room became quiet and Lucas stopped himself on his way out, turning on his heels to look back at her. 

“My whole life, I was the background noise in my own story and I was fine with that until the boy I loved more than anything broke my heart my senior year of high school.” She turned to Lucas who was avoiding eye contact, “When he left I felt like he took a part of me with him, and I was so absolutely heartbroken I shut myself in for months. Not even my best friend since the first grade could break me out. But then, while I was alone, I found myself through my art. I just began painting and sculpting and I couldn’t stop. My fingertips bled and the tears fell but I kept going. I emptied every part of him, my mom, my dad, everyone that stole a piece of me, out from within me with every movement I made and I have never felt more free in my entire life. As I got rid of him, I grew taller and I became myself again so now, I thank him for leaving me on my own, because without that heart break I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today with a clean slate and a open heart.” At this point, she looked at Lucas and he was already staring straight at her. But this time, his gaze didn’t shift and his mouth stayed slightly open, letting his amazement fall out. “The love we shared was like a movie, we were what you dream of as a little girl. But we were young and we were scared of growing old that by being apart we thought we could hold onto our youth, but growth is inevitable and it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. What’s bad for the heart is good for the art.” A tear rolled down her cheek and the journalist thanked her too much for the exclusive story. Maya tried to respond but all she could see, hear, feel, taste, and smell was the boy who had had her heart since the seventh grade that was standing before her for the first time in two years. She wanted nothing more than to run into her arms like the beginning, like nothing had happened, but she blinked and he was gone. 

xxxxxxx

He had to get out of there, he couldn’t let her see him cry. She was too happy and he wanted her to stay that way. Leaving her was apparently the best thing he had ever done for her despite how much he hated himself every single day for it. He let her slip through his fingers and he would never forgive himself.

He was keeled over in front of the museum, trying desperately to catch his breath but it kept running further and further away from him. Is this what a panic attack felt like? Or was this just the finality of his actions landing on his chest and taking his breath away? He was starting to catch up to his breath when he heard footsteps from behind him.

“Lucas?” Her voice. The way she said his name hadn’t changed, even though every thing else had. “Lucas, are you ok?” She carefully stepped closer. “Lucas please say something.”

“What am I supposed to say Maya?” His voice was broken and his eyes were filling up with water again. “What am I supposed to say when you just thanked me in front of a room full of people for breaking your heart? What am I supposed to say when you just thanked me for doing the one thing that I’ve done that I’ve regretted to the point of self hatred? Maya I never stopped loving you, every second of every day I’m still here in the hopes that I’ll see you again, and then, when I finally do, you’re thanking me for doing the one thing I would take back if I could.” This was too much for him, he needed to get out of here, h needed to stop breathing her air. 

“Lucas, I,” Her voice was small and her eyes were wide with sadness, “I never stopped loving you either but I had to do something with the person you left behind. I had to and I did. I’ve made a name for myself now and I’m finally happy on my own for the first time in my entire life. Seeing you has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but I did it because I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t see you at least one more time.” She was choking on her words and the tears were falling, this was the first time she had let herself cry since the night he left her. “You left me and I couldn’t just sit around waiting for you to run into my arms and apologize. And it’s a good thing I didn’t because you never came around. You stayed right here, away from me.”

His heart was racing and his palms were sweating, nothing seemed real. This had to be some crazy dream sent from Hell to break his heart all over again. “I didn’t come back because I couldn’t hurt you again. I couldn’t risk getting restless again and leaving again. I couldn’t risk making one wrong move and forcing you to leave. Leaving you was the hardest thing I ever had to do and I didn’t plan on doing it again, I couldn’t and I can’t.”

“Your job was to stay Lucas.” She was angry. But it was a silent angry, the kind of anger that causes artists to win awards. 

“My job was to be there for you Maya, to do everything in my power to do what was best for you. And by leaving you I was doing just that. You said so yourself, you couldn’t become a whole person without me leaving you.” She looked down. “You don’t think I would do anything to get to be by you when people compliment you on your work? You don’t think I want to be with you every step of the way, all the way until you’re just another name in art history books? Because I would, God damn would I. But you emptied me from you and we can never go back to the way we were. Because you’re shiny and new and I’m just a shell of someone you used to know and you deserve everything this world has to offer and all I can promise you is nostalgia. You need to experience everything if you’re going to continue going on this path Maya. And I’m not everything.” He had tried so hard to stop himself from crying but a tear escaped, she reached out to wipe it away and he grabbed her hand. “My job is still to do everything in my power to make life everything you deserve it to be, and if that means I can’t stay then I won’t.” He was whispering, mere inches from her lips. She leaned in and they shared a sweet kiss. It was short and simple but it was the closure the two of them needed. 

“Goodbye Maya, I’m going to keep my eye on you.” He winked at her and wiped away her tears before he stepped away from her and started down the stairs and onto the sidewalk.

“I never stopped loving you Huckleberry.” She was choking on her words again but now there was a smile on her face.

“I wish I could ask you to never stop, but that would be rather selfish of me, don’t you think?” 

She smiled and laughed in response, “Yeah, maybe just a little bit.”

“I’ll never stop loving you Maya Hart. Set the world on fire for me, won’t you?”

All she did was nod. 

xxxxxxx

The speech was everywhere by the time the sun rose, but Maya was already on her way home and Lucas was too busy bidding online for his favorite piece of her to answer the calls from his old friends, asking him how he was doing. He would be fine. They both would be.

**Author's Note:**

> request fics on my tumblr girlmeetsangst


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